The present invention relates to a monitoring method and a monitoring system for automatic transaction machines that are widely used by financial and similar institutions.
Automatic transaction machines are widely employed at financial institutions to reduce work load at the teller stations. The customer can access the financial transaction management center via an automatic transaction machine to execute financial transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, transfers and other similar transaction.
Each financial institution installs several of such automatic transaction machines in each manned or unmanned branch. In order to achieve a smooth utilization of these automatic transaction machines, it is necessary to store an appropriate amount of cash and the like required for transactions inside each machine.
In particular, in an unmanned branch or in a manned branch when the machines must operate outside of business hours, or on weekends and holidays, the management of the cash provided in each machine is vital. For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-101947 discloses a method for providing only the minimum required fund in each automatic transaction machine by projecting how much will be needed at each automatic transaction machine based upon past data.
Now, the prior art as described above presents the following problems yet to be addressed.
Operating automatic transaction machines are carefully monitored by special operators working at a monitoring center which is normally located some distance from the machines. If a failure occurs in several of the plurality of automatic transaction machines, halting their operation may be necessary. If the cash reserve in operating machines becomes reduced to the point where it requires replenishment, the operator at the monitoring center decides to dispatch a service person as necessary.
However, it is not easy to make a correct judgment in regard to such a dispatch, and therefore, it places a great deal of responsibility on the operator. In addition, if the amount of cash stored in each machine is very large so as to reduce the frequency of such service calls, efficient utilization of the fund is prevented. Thus, both storing the appropriate amount of cash reserve in the machines and performing efficient service dispatch management at the monitoring center are essential matters to be addressed.